Scott Statement on the Introduction of $15 Minimum Wage Legislation

WASHINGTON – Committee on Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after he joined Congressman Keith Ellison (MN-05), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to introduce H.R. 15, the Raise the Wage Act of 2017. The bill has more than 150 cosponsors in the House.

“It’s been ten long years since we last raised the minimum wage. While 29 states have taken action to raise their wages above the federal minimum since then, minimum wage workers in 21 states are still paid $7.25 an hour. This leaves a full-time, year-round worker with a dependent child living below the federal poverty threshold. Today’s low-wage workers earn less per hour, adjusted for inflation, than their counterparts did 50 years ago, but productivity has nearly doubled over that same time period. That is unacceptable.

“Our legislation provides an important contrast between the Democrats’ agenda for working families and the agenda of President Trump and Congressional Republicans. President Trump and the Majority have used the 115th Congress and the beginning of the Trump Administration to roll back safety and health protections, attempt to take away health care from 23 million Americans, undermine civil rights enforcement, and advance legislation that would deny workers their hard-earned overtime pay. By passing the Raise the Wage Act, we can ensure that no one who works hard and plays by the rules has to live in poverty. Passing the Raise the Wage Act is the right thing to do. It’s the fair thing to do. And it’s long overdue.”

The Raise the Wage Act of 2017 would:

Raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to$15 over the next seven years;